Store-Carry-Forward Energy Distribution Method and Routing Control Method for Use in a Disaster

Abstract

As reconfirmed through a recent series of disasters, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, interruption of the power supply causes serious problems in civic life, life at evacuation sites, and medical institutions in the stricken area. Even though the power supply was restored relatively quickly in past disasters, it is essential to minimize the period of power failure. Even in the case where a power grid fails in the event of a large-scale disaster covering a large area, such as an earthquake, there is a high probability that individual power generation and power storage units installed at various places, such as houses, public facilities, and microgrids, will escape damage. Also, although the road network may become disconnected at some points, it is unlikely that all road sections become impassable. Thus, as emergency alternative means for supplying energy immediately after a disaster, it is presumably effective to achieve matching between the supply and demand of electricity through store-carry-forward of electricity, without depending on the power grid, by using power generation and power storage units that have escaped damage in combination with mobile units having power generation and power storage capabilities, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and so on. With the aim of realizing alternative means for energy supply immediately after a disaster, in this paper, we propose an effective routing control method for store-carry-forward energy distribution, whose effectiveness we verified through numerical experiments.